V 13 N. 108 Darryl Beardall Ran Til He Dropped

 November 12, 2023

My co-founder  of this blog, Roy Mason,  just sent a story from the Santa Rosa , CA  Press Democrat, a still thriving Northern California newspaper not averse to carrying the occasional track and/or running story.   This one is about the running life  of 87 years old Darryl Beardall who passed away last week.  Darryl ran the famous Dispea race 55 times and won it twice.  He had a range of race performances as follows.

5Km  14:45,     10Km 29:50,    Marathon  2hr. 28 min.      100 Miles  15 hours 38 min.  38 sec.,   so you can see he wasn't no slouch runner, a face amongst participants,  he was a runner and a racer of near elite caliber.   His story can be seen in the link below along with a series of photos covering a span of 60 years.

He Ran to the End by Kerry Benefield    link

We all get older and lose our speed, but we don't have to lose our spirit to stay in the race to the end.  

From Mike Tymn

When I was participating in SF area road races during the 1950s and '60s, Darryl was clearly elite, not "near-elite." I think we have to judge by the standards of the day, not today's times.

An afterthought relative to my comment about Darryl Beardall being "elite" back then rather than "near-elite" as the reporter labeled him.  It would seem to be just the opposite in baseball, i.e., top players, e.g., Rogers Hornsby, Hans Wagner, etc., who hit .350 almost every year probably wouldn't have averaged .300 today, if that, but their numbers are compared with today's numbers.  It's just the opposite with runners.  Those of us who do it, or did it, as a hobby with a few training miles after work and family chores have to be compared with full-time professional runners who get massages between workouts and spend an hour stretching between daily workouts. 

I only ran in one race with Darryl. I was teaching in Miami but tried to spend summers out west. In 1966 I was staying with friends in Novato and one of them drove me to a race in Point Reyes. An 8 miler starting at a farm house. I'm a year younger than Darryl. The first mile was all uphill. 360' as I recall. There was a topo map on a table at the farmhouse. Ray Hatton won the race. I was 2nd at the top of that first hill but really drained. Miami has no hills over 20' to train on. Discouraged, I mentally quit. I was about 11th when Darryl passed me. Turned out he had been in a portajohn when the race started. He was charging. Recognizing him, and pissed off at myself, I latched on to him and we passed several. He wound up 5th; I was probably 10 yards back in 6th. Reading his obit, I am amazed he was still going to races a few months before he died of cancer. I have cancer. Very unlikely to make 87 next September. Having both hips replaced plus a bad back ended my running at 58. I still miss it. It was a huge part of my life. I loved being really fit and feeling my body could do almost anything.
Geoff Pietsch  Gainesville FL  

   In reading the article about Darryl Beardall, I believe that the one statement about him captured the essence for all runners:  he could be counted on without fail.

Running Tip for the Day:   It's hard as a senior runner to not look down where you are putting your feet on every stride, because the ol' faceplanteroo is not an uncommon occurrence with seniors.  But it helps to also look up on occasion.  Today while running along the Tsolum river just outside of Courtenay, BC I saw a black bear not more than thirty yards in front of me.  It was looking the other way and had I not looked up, I might have run right up it's back.  At the pace I run, I did not need a screeching halt to put a stop to my forward progress and a quick U-turn was negotiated without further ado.  However,  as I ran the other way, not another 100 yards, another bear was on my path.  This one helped maintain my inflated heart rate.  I waved my arms like one of those guys directing landings on an aircraft carrier deck and the second bear got my message, did a 180 and scooted away.  It did not come around for a second attempt to land.  I was able to finish my run in solitude.   Game viewing was not over for the day, as I drove home I was able to take a picture of a deer jumping a fence while her two fawns watched.  They weren't able to make the jump.  They didn't even try, and mama eventually came back to them.  

 Dear George:

Well, at least senior runners up your way have incentives to run.

Take care

Tom

Great geezer story. All of us at a certain age loved it.

Jerry

I get deer all the time, bears not so much.  We had one about three months ago.  Stole a bag of birdseed out of my carport then realized it wasn't worthy of transporting further and dumped it in the road.  Was caught on a neighbor's security camera.   Forwarding it in next email.  Saw a mountain lion 20 years ago.  Of course there is no telling what passes through under cover of darkness - elephants, kangaroos, ostriches......  Roy

So those people who said to make yourself big when encountering a bear were right.  Good job in remembering that advice under duress.  After that those deer looked pretty tame I bet.

Great post George. Thanks. Not anywhere near the scene of pickup trucks a Dallas runner confronts. <Deer     Earl Young   Earl Young